Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Recanted rape claim treated as false alarm, as if no crime had been committed

Another female college student falsely cried rape last week. This time, at Lehigh University. The 19-year-old, in custody for an unrelated offense, reported to the Bethlehem Police Department that she had been raped, and the University sent an email alerting the campus community of the alleged attack. Then the woman recanted, and the University sent out another email to the campus community explaining the claim had been "unfounded." (Note the use of the term "unfounded," which the sexual grievance industry insists does not mean "false," for this recanted rape claim.)

The woman is not identified in the news report even though it seems clear she committed a crime of false reporting; if a male had been arrested for the alleged rape she reported, he would have been immediately identified even before it was clear he committed a crime.

There is no indication that the woman who made the false report will be criminally charged for this offense. There is not even a quotation from a school administrator or police officer expressing concern about the false claim. Nothing.

In fact, the tone of statements from police indicates they are treating the entire matter as a false alarm -- as if no crime had occurred whatsoever. Whew! That's a relief! Lehigh Police Chief Edward Shupp "said he still hopes students notify police immediately of any crime." As if to say, even though this one was a false alarm, keep those calls reporting crimes (and non-crimes) coming, kiddies. Shupp added: "We should be seen as an advocate, not an adversary."

I picture Shupp speaking to a crowd through a megaphone: "Citizens, you can all go home now. There's nothing to see here. It was just a false alarm. This time, we don't have a scary male predator roaming the campus waiting to attack your helpless daughters. Nothing to be worried about."

Never mind that making a false rape report to police is itself a crime. Never mind that hapless males are often nabbed in false rape lies, and sometimes they are arrested, tried, and convicted. And most of the time, something bad happens to hapless males nabbed in rape lies -- their lives are always turned upside down. Some lose their wives, their girlfriends, their friends, their businesses, their jobs, and their money defending the false claim. Some are beaten, chased, spat upon, and even killed. Some kill themselves. Never mind that rape lies slander an entire gender and foment more of the same old Chicken Little fear mongering that portrays males as dreaded predators. Never mind that the public will remember the fear associated with the rape claim a lot longer than it will remember that the claim turned out to be a lie.

But the students should regard the police as their advocates in fighting crime -- unless, I assume, the criminal has a vagina and the crime is lying about rape.

And here is my favorite line from the news story: John Smeaton, the vice provost for student affairs, "said students should contact the Lehigh University Police Department, the Dean of Students Office or the Break the Silence Hotline in case of any crime."

Oh, by the way, the Break the Silence Hotline is Lehigh University's Women's Center's sexual violence peer hotline, in case you couldn't guess from the name that suggests a patriarchal conspiracy to allow males to rape women with impunity.

Isn't it great when universities and police use false rape claims as occasions to combat an entirely unrelated crime -- rape -- while ignoring the crime right in front of their noses?

Tell me, Mr. Vice Provost, who can your male students call in the event of a false rape claim?